


Exit Strategy

by sevenall



Category: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26033623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/pseuds/sevenall
Summary: The exit vector needed to do several things; let Norway pick up Thor on the way out, leave them with enough fuel for their post-jump run and actually let them exit the system. Oh, and not kill everyone onboard while doing it.
Relationships: Jurgen Graff/Signy Mallory
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: Fandom Giftbox 2020





	Exit Strategy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



The exit vector needed to do several things; let Norway pick up Thor on the way out, leave them with enough fuel for their post-jump run and actually let them exit the system. Oh, and not kill everyone onboard while doing it. Two out of four was easy. The bridge crew had spent several shifts trying to get all four.

By now, alterday was mixing with mainday, clustering around the long scan operations boards and holoscreens. Rider ship data streamed in from Odin and Freya orbiting the carrier and monitoring Thor's transmissions as they came in. Enough to know Almarshad's crew were alive in there and trying to find their own vector back to Norway.

Signy had never lost a rider ship and did not intend to start now. Com kept up the chatter at their station, relaying packages of instructions and reassurances. Nav was at the drawing table with the carrier pilots, projecting trajectories across the multidimensional models. From the way Graff was frowning at the screens, focused but not distressed, getting Thor back in range before jump might require some seriously non-standard flying, but wasn't the problem. The idea of leaving a rider ship behind always seemed to bother him more than the very real possibility of the whole carrier crashing down a gravity well or exploding upon re-entry, riders and all.

Thor's crew would be fine for hours, even days, as long as life support held out and Norway's Captain needed to send some people to bed. Technically, it was mainday, but most of the alterday crew, except Helm Two and Three, were still on the bridge. Nice to see their dedication to their shipmates' continued survival as well as their own. Most everyone looked alert, hydrated and fed. If voices sometimes rose sharply, they soon sank back to a low murmur as steadier tempers buffered. No panic. No stupidity, not even the self-sacrificing kind. Well, mostly.

She considered Graff for another moment. He got his flying hours in and there was nothing wrong with his reaction times or nerve. But she needed him as XO as much as she needed him at the helm, maybe more, and he had a history of overdoing any job that wasn't piloting. Five teacups by his elbow, which meant that someone had cut off the coffee hours ago. Norway was as far from a merchanter ship as could be, but it seemed that familiarity bred, well, familiarity, and Seniors like Graff going on a protected list was no surprise, except maybe to themselves. He did look tired. They all were.

"Alright," Signy said. Her voice was quiet, but no need to be loud; all other conversations ceased. "Alterday, take thirty somewhere that's not here. Mainday, you’ll be off-shift for six hours when alterday is back." 

Graff gave her a dirty look. He wouldn’t challenge her in front of the whole bridge, but that look promised her a one-to-one as soon as he could get away with it. And he was right, dammit. They were all tired. 

"Mr. Graff,” she said, “if I may trouble you to stay with alterday, I'll be back with mainday. In six hours, yes. As you were, everybody."


End file.
